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Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#171

Post by roywashere »

I never had a private office but always worked in bigger or smaller open plan offices. About 10 years ago I had a consulting engagement at a company that was working from a 70s office building with private offices. They were going to tear it down because it was not 'modern' but that was _really great_ and I always wondered what happened and if we would not get back to that style of offices at some point! It's great to be able to work from a private environment, where you could still enjoy shared lunches, or pop into a co-workers office to jointly spec something out or... and yeah you can do that stuff on Zoom but it's different.

And I understand how it's great to work from hom. I also have the luxury of a proper office room at home. I don't like my commute either, but having the laundry, family, whatever available as distractions is not always great in my opinion.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#172

Post by welshwelsh »

halgir wrote: post #41
nkozyra wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the timeline. Things are changing very rapidly. Automation seems to be coming at us at an exponential rate. The expectation that it's going to be business as usual is just as short sighted and archaic with regard going into an office as it is with the idea of work in general.

Oh boy, I'm excited for the massive wealth creation of this exponential growth to trickle down to workers.

No need to wait, the future is now. I've already seen huge gains in income and work-life balance by spending time automating my workflow.

I hope that by "trickle down to the workers" you aren't talking about technically illiterate workers who are not actively contributing to the automation effort. Unfortunately, they will receive some benefits as well, which is completely undeserved.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#173

Post by _gabe_ »

AvAn12 wrote: post #9

Joel Spolesky has made this very point many times in the past: "Private offices with doors that close were absolutely required and not open to negotiation." I work on a Data Sci team that moved to an open floor plan in 2018. What happened? Anyone who needed to work intensively on a project would work from home instead of in the office.

And I'm also sure if Joel Spolsky created a company today it would most likely have a remote first policy. At least, I'd be disappointed if I found out he didn't support it with how forward thinking his companies have been.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#174

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

yungporko wrote: post #71
mytailorisrich wrote: post #30

People who like WFH will never want to return to the office unless perhaps the office is a 5 minute walk from home (they may be forced to, but they won't want to). For many people the time and cost savings of avoiding a daily commute cannot be offset by a nicer office. Those who are happy to return to the office in general are those who do not like WFH and prefer more contacts and a change of scenery. A nicer office…

yep, i don't care if they give me an entire palace. unless it's attached to my home, i am not going there. if my job requires me to be at the office, i will say "no" and then get another job.

> unless it's attached to my home, i am not going there

Why on Earth would you accept an office attached to your home?! Seems like the worst of all options...

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#176

Post by rabuse »

Zetice wrote: post #14
1970-01-01 wrote: post #3

At home, the benefits are extreme. Full office, private bath, private bed, private kitchen, garaged parking, asset security, and a 30 second commute. The next wave of office workers will want it better than this, or it simply won't work.

Won’t work? How will these non-workers pay for things? They’ll have no choice but to work.

It's a two-way street between employers and employees.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#178

Post by SoftTalker »

AvAn12 wrote: post #9

Joel Spolesky has made this very point many times in the past: "Private offices with doors that close were absolutely required and not open to negotiation." I work on a Data Sci team that moved to an open floor plan in 2018. What happened? Anyone who needed to work intensively on a project would work from home instead of in the office.

I've worked in open plan spaces most of my career. I've had my own office a few times also. I don't hate all open plan arrangements, if it's a room with 4-6 developers and no sales or marketing or other functions going on, desks are large enough and spaced apart a little bit, it can be fine. Developers will mostly put on headphones and get into the zone. It can feel kind of nice to have other people around even if you aren't interacting with them.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#179

Post by rayiner »

steveBK123 wrote: post #69
mytailorisrich wrote: post #30

People who like WFH will never want to return to the office unless perhaps the office is a 5 minute walk from home (they may be forced to, but they won't want to). For many people the time and cost savings of avoiding a daily commute cannot be offset by a nicer office. Those who are happy to return to the office in general are those who do not like WFH and prefer more contacts and a change of scenery. A nicer office…

My vaguely populist take is that the pandemic, WFH/remote and hybrid gave the mass white collar class a taste of what the C-suite has had for years.. flexibility. Sure, these guys might go into the office but they do so from their pied-a-terre / 3rd home / whatever within a 5 minute chauffeured drive. They do this while maintaining a nearby suburban/exurban estate and maybe a lake/beach/ski houses where they spend th…

> My vaguely populist take is that the pandemic, WFH/remote and hybrid gave the mass white collar class a taste of what the C-suite has had for years.. flexibility.

That’s not populist at all. It’s just another example of the white collar class enjoying the benefits of technology and globalization while everyone else gets left behind: https://www.epi.org/blog/wage-inequality-continued-to-increa....

Before the pandemic, I already made a lot more money (as a lawyer) than my middle class neighbors. Now I also get to work from home three days a week, and get a lot more quality time with my kids, while they have to go to work every day because their jobs aren’t knowledge work.

Obviously, management versus other white collar workers is one class dividing line that exists. But work from home is a good example if the fact that on many important dimensions, such as work conditions and generational mobility,[1] those groups are in the same class.

[1] CEOs are obviously richer than say accountants of engineers. But in the US, CEOs largely come from the class of these white collar professionals. In that sense, they’re in the same class as most other societies understand the concept.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#180

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

Eh, I mean.. it is better than some of the other ideas that were floated just over the past few months:

- we donate to a charity of your choice and keep the tax writeoff - we let you rent a hotel room from us - we have a special room, where you can cloister yourself for a little bit when you want to be alone

By comparison.. your own office is an actual perk.. either WFH is getting close or someone with actual ear to the ground is listening. It is still wrong. But it is less wrong.

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